Special focus: audio technology

E&T lends a technological ear to the world of audio. How has recording music changed in the 21st century; which is the best way of storing digital music; do people still want a physical product; alien sounds from 10 of the world's strangest instruments; the rebirth of vinyl records and laser turntables to play them on; the top five enduring hi-fi myths busted; the creative legacy of vintage electronic equipment; a photo essay on manufacturing guitars at Fender's Corona, California, facility; the work of mastering engineers. All this and much more besides.

Selected audio-technology news

A technique devised by the British inventor and electronics engineer Alan Dower Blumlein is making a comeback as mixing engineers try to push the boundaries of what is possible with a pair of audio channels, 70 years after his untimely death.

John Leckie is one of the UK's most successful record producers. His CV reads like a who's who of rock'n'roll. Here, he reflects on the technological changes he's seen in the recording studio over the years.

E&T visits Abbey Road Studios to talk to mastering engineer Sean Magee about the TG 12410 Transfer Console and the studio's new online mastering service. We also discuss remastering The Beatles in mono.

Sean Magee, mastering engineer at Abbey Road Studios, demonstrates how a vinyl record is cut, passing the sound through the TG 12410 Transfer Console and out to the Neumann cutting lathe in Mastering Room 6.

To give you an idea of what software modelling can achieve, we recorded two simple guitar riffs through both a real Fender valve amp and through a selection of amp models from the AmpliTube Fender software package.

One of the biggest names in professional audio equipment design and manufacture, Solid State Logic is world famous for its large-scale recording and mixing consoles. E&T spoke to SSL's director of new products, Niall Feldman.